Being "Wrong"

Hans Talhoffer, Wurttenburg Treatise plate 39

  "The only thing that I know is that I know nothing" - Socrates 

    A swordsman's study is never completed. It is important for a swordsman to make contact with others of his kind. Through discussion and group training ideas are exchanged thus helping every martial artist involved in the discourse grow as a result. Every martial artist is a manifestation of their level of training in that specific art. Sword play is a universe within itself with a seemingly infinite number of teachings for a swordsman to grasp. There will come a time when your understanding of your martial art will be ill-informed, and you be humbled for it. 

    You should never be afraid to be wrong. Very often I see swordsmen defend their takes on the art at all costs even if it derails any helpful discussion entirely. As we progress down the path of swordsmanship there is no doubt that we will be chosen to mentor other swordsmen along the way and find mentorship in those who are senior to us in the practice. A major test in your swordsmanship journey will be when you find yourself in the spot of knowing enough to not know you don't know enough. 

   Seeing the error of your ways is the highest signal of growth within yourself. It is also important to keep in mind that when other swordsmen criticize you, it is often not a personal attack but as a way to help you become stronger. Our self-centered egos would have us believe that we are under attack because it simply wants the peace and security that comes with the feeling of "knowing everything", even if that notion is actually a detriment to our true understanding. That's not to say that you should take all criticisms to heart, but it all is fair game for consideration. 

    You should ask yourself "what do I gain by seeing things differently?". Step outside of the mere interaction of two separate people and see the wholeness in the conversation.  Visualize yourself becoming a more capable warrior by having this discussion. Once you remove your attachment to your knowledge, you will know if their message resonated with you. If it did, then allow it to inform your fighting style and allow it to strengthen your spirit. 

    It is honorable to admit that your interpretation may have been misguided. From that position you have the ability to make the necessary changes to become who you were meant to become by following the sword. You can be grateful that you had the strength to overcome this internal enemy of "rightness".  

 Edge on Flat: The Proper Way to Parry?

Hans Talhoffer, Württemberg Treatise plate no. 39

    

    We currently live in a martial arts renaissance for medieval European swords. Since the 1990's modern humans have been seeking the teachings of the once forgotten medieval sword masters so that we may once again understand how real people fought with swords in an age where swords ruled the land.  Most of the early work of this period of rediscovery was searching for an understanding of the sword itself- and how it synergized with our bodies. Practitioners of this stage were more concerned with obtaining authentic knowledge of the weapon rather than discovering the best strategies to employ in modernized fencing tournaments (the era I was raised in). 

    I was always curious of the time when sword training was a niche practice even amongst other sword enthusiast circles. I often imagine the time period of using the early internet to discuss the topic on forums on the fringes of cyber space. Mysterious names such as Liechtenauer or Talhoffer pointing you in the direction of untranslated manuscripts and esoteric illustrations. In an attempt to immerse myself in the times, I sought out old medieval martial arts training videos and websites to get a feel for how swordsmanship was understood at that time. 

    What I mostly found was the blueprint for how swordsmanship would be passed down to us today, without the notions of applying "what works" within abstract tournament settings. Practitioners in this original era of study treated their chosen art as a traditional martial art and not as a "sport". 

    

Hanwei, Practical Bastard Sword

     A main difference I saw in the way they trained back in those days was that they taught that you should often parry blows with the flat of your blade as opposed to using your edge. This teaching stuck out to me as I don't recall this practice ever being taken into consideration with many (sport) practitioners or instructors today. Edge on edge parries are much more common these days and not much thought is put into them. I continued studying from these old practioners who would give their reasoning as to why parries should be made with the flat of the sword and not the edge. 

    The reasoning they gave is edge on edge parries would damage the blades had the blades been sharpened. In those days, they were training under the assumption that their blades would be sharpened in their sword plays (of course they still trained with blunt swords). In their minds, a competent swordsman would be capable of maintaining the quality of their blade throughout a series of battles. When swords clash edge on edge, the will cut into each other (this is known as "biting"). In the worst cases, the swords would seem to stick to each other by their edges if the cut was deep enough. Plays were written by the medieval masters to work around this "biting", but the result would be the same- your blade is now damaged. 

    If your edge is bitten into over and over again, eventually it would render the blade useless to you. Thus, there had to be some other solution to parrying. Surely the medieval masters weren't just running through blades constantly. The early researchers into the medieval martial arts came to the conclusion that parries were instead made with the flat of the blade more often than the edge to prevent biting. A technique like the schielhau is an edge on flat parrying technique for example. 

    

    In the case of sharpened sword play, edge on flat also manifest binds where one sword slides around the bind. Sliding binds are far more common today as we practice with unsharpened weapons, even on the edges the blades will slide given the right placement. This is yet another example how misinformation in sparring could lead to bad habits in practical combat. If a fighter is used to edge on edge parries because they believe sliding binds come easy due to the unsharpened practice swords, they would be in for a rude awakening in a live duel. 

More Thoughts on Alber (Fool's Guard)

 More Thoughts on Alber

The Alber x Vom Tag Zufechten, illustrated

    Alber (fool's guard) is a common German longsword guard where you stand with your right leg forward and point your sword to the ground with your short edge facing toward the sky in front of you. The guard offers very little defensive capability directly. However, I believe this guard may be the hardest out of the other guards to attack directly. 

    Firstly, some longsword guards can reliably be attacked in a direct fashion. An example of this is Vom Tag. If you're brave you can directly attack Vom Tag by performing a Zwerchau through the opponent's center line. The cut will block your enemy's strike if it does not outright make contact with them. Thus, this movement is safe in the beginning stage of fencing known as Zufechten. If a bind is created, the Zwerchau has sufficient power on either side of the indes (weak or strong), and can respond appropriately in krieg. 

    This is a different case for Alber. The obvious attack to Alber would be to strike their head with either a cut or thrust. The problem with Alber is that the opponent's typical reaction (especially if they have little concern for their own safety) is to counter your attack with a thrust by simply raising their sword in good timing. This opens a significant chance for a double-hit (an outcome where both fighters strike each other simultaneously). For this reason, I believe it should be best to avoid attacking Alber from Zufechten as the danger of double-hitting is too high in most cases. I would especially avoid attacking a novice fighter who stands in Alber in Zufechten. 

    I propose an asymmetric answer to Alber within Zufechten. Alber is mostly used as a bait to invite their opponent to attack them from the Vor (before, see: "Fencing from the Sweeps"). The best offense to an opponent who seeks to bait and attack you is to simply not take the bait. Take a chambered stance such as Vom Tag or Plough and strafe outside of their measure in Zufechten. 

    Your movement will expose a major weakness of Alber. Most guard changes taken from Alber require the fighter to raise their sword in some way. Your opponent will become impatient and either: 

    (a): change guards (more often than not by raising their sword) 

    (b): launch a thrusting attack (raising their sword to Lang-ort and lunging)

    (c): cycle between the lower guards (Neben-hut, Eisenport) 

    The response to (a) and (b) should be the same, that is to capture their sword with the Krumphau using your short edge. Once their blade is captured you seize the Vor by striking them with either edge of your sword and quickly fleeing out of Krieg. 

    You have an instinctual choice to make with path (c). You could strike them as they change guards and surprise them, or you can continue to wait them out. The latter option would work best with experienced and agile fighters whilst the former would work best on a novice. 

    This train of thought has led me to further respect Alber as a guard and to see it more than simply a "foolish" guard that only an untrained fighter would assume. I do not believe that there is any guard that is inherently superior than the others in Zufechten (although I am not a fan of beginning your plays from the Ochs guard). However, the Vom Tag x Alber Zufechten play is a reliable one to cast from either side of the ring given each fighter is well versed in both of the guards. There is no clear winner when the starting positions clash and it comes down to the fighters' skill of the art more than a simple game of chance which is the standard exchange for today's age of sword fighting.